I applied for a position that required an 800-1,000-word writing assignment, in addition to three varying headlines, three different subheads for each section, and two rounds of edits. This process was significantly longer and more demanding than any previous writing test I've encountered (the most was 250 words). I was asked to submit my work via Google Docs, but as a precaution, I emailed my assignment. They took my work from the email and directly entered it into their Google Docs workflow. I didn't get the job and was offered $25 for what they called a "sample" blog post. The compensation for a 1,000-word piece was so minimal I didn't bother to request payment. The company used my work without my consent or byline and posted it on their blog. When I questioned this, the CEO informed me that my piece was only posted for a few weeks and had received limited views. However, I know it was posted for much longer. The CEO claimed they had more than 500 applicants (in my experience, only the top few candidates are asked to write a sample piece). "Since often sample blog posts are not usable, this is often a sunk cost in our hiring process," the CEO said. This argument is flawed. All applicant content should be treated as unusable since it's presented as a sample. Sunk costs? Despite offering minimal compensation, there was no explicit or implicit communication from the company (written or verbal) regarding the potential use of my work on their blog. The CEO also claimed that my sample piece was "heavily edited." However, I found minimal changes to the original text, except for the removal of three paragraphs for length. And clearly, it was good enough for them to post on their blog. Sometime after being informed that I didn't get the position, I began receiving Google Docs updates from an editor I had never interacted with before, who was making the above-mentioned changes to my work. Additionally, about a year later, I received a Google Docs notification they had closed the document, and I no longer had access to the Google Doc containing my work. I feel I was misled about the purpose of the writing assignment, and they misrepresented the intended use of applicant content. As a final note, it’s my observation, the compensation offered by this company is slightly higher than the content mills that offer notoriously low wages.

I had an initial interview over the phone and then was given a writing assignment to complete within five days, for which I received some compensation. After that I had a panel interview and received a decision soon afterward.